Page 59 of Shadows of Winter

“You were supposed to be on duty in the Warehouse District tonight,” Targon said.

“But you wouldn’t have learned about the new Virt movements if not for Vlerion going down there, right?” Jankarr, who’d stayed back and leaned near the door, raised his eyebrows. Before, he’d berated Vlerion for not taking him, but it seemed he would stand up for his partner to others.

Targon sighed, glanced at Kaylina, and walked to the far end of the room, gesturing for Vlerion to follow.

“Tell me,” Targon said.

Vlerion delivered a report in a voice too low for Kaylina to hear. Too bad. She would have preferred to concentrate on their conversation—on anything to keep her mind off the doctor’s probing, especially once he started suturing. Apparently, some of the punctures couldn’t be stitched and would have to be cleaned and checked frequently for infection since they would take a long time to heal fully. The wider wounds did receive sutures, and Kaylina grimaced with each stab, fighting not to gasp or show weakness in front of the men. Even with the pill, the fiery pain hadn’t dulled as much as she would have liked.

Jankarr came and sat on the stool Vlerion had vacated. He touched her shoulder. “Do you want a stick to bite on? Or something to squeeze? I’d offer Vlerion’s balls, but he barely reacts when you hurt him, so it’s not much fun.”

“Are you supposed to hurt your partner?”

“Only in the sparring ring. And occasionally if he idiotically goes into trouble by himself.” Though Jankarr hadn’t raised his voice, maybe not wanting their captain to hear about that, Vlerion glanced over.

Kaylina almost pointed out that Vlerion hadn’t been by himself, but it wasn’t as if she’d been any help. If anything, she’d been an impediment. She might have stopped those two men from planting explosives, but it was possible Vlerion would have caught up with them on his own before they’d done anything anyway.

“You cracked some Virt heads with your sling?” Jankarr's eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, and he was even more handsome that way.

Kaylina caught herself smiling back, glad for the distraction from the doctor’s ministrations. Even if she didn’t appreciate that the rangers were all using her—at the least, Targon was, and the others were going along with it—it was nice of Jankarr to care enough to sit beside her.

“I worried they would hurt my brother,” she said.

“You get them square on, the same way you cracked Vlerion?” His smile widened.

She could feel Vlerion’s eyes upon them, even if he was reporting to his captain, so she downplayed that. “I usually hit what I aim at.”

“Nice.” Jankarr gave her an appreciative look. “That’s not a typical skill up here. Where’d you learn? What prompted you to master it?”

Kaylina hardly considered herself a master of the sling, but it was nice to have someone give her a compliment. It had been so long. And her family so rarely thought she did anything right that her heart almost ached with appreciation. She caught herself blinking to keep moisture from forming in her eyes. How silly to react so.

“We serve a lot of poultry and fish at the Spitting Gull,” Kaylina said. “All fresh. Grandpa’s brother is the fisherman and runs the nets and boats, but Grandpa loves his hounds and hunting. I took to it too. Anything to get out of the never-ending chores of running an eating house. He taught me the sling when I was little, and we went out for all kinds of partridge, quail, and hoatzin on the marshy islands of our chain. I practiced a lot with my sling when I was, uhm, frustrated with things.” How many hours had she spent, hiding out and targeting driftwood and buoys on the beach? An escape from older—and younger—siblings telling her what to do.

“You’d probably be good with a bow too. Once you’ve developed a marksman’s aim, it translates to other weapons fairly well.”

“I’ve never used one. I fired a crossbow at a pirate once.”

“In the head?” The amusement returned to Jankarr's eyes.

“No. In the, uhm, lower area.”

Grinning, Jankarr looked at Vlerion and Targon as they returned to the cot. “You’d better watch your head and your cock around her.”

Heat flushed Kaylina’s cheeks. This wasn’t the distraction she’d wanted.

“Which head?” Targon smirked.

Vlerion sighed. “I should have taken her to one of the healers in town. She’s heard enough male ribaldry for today.”

When he met her eyes, Kaylina knew he was thinking of the comments they’d overheard from the alcove. It touched her that he’d been affronted on her behalf. Though it also chilled her that he’d killed the men. The memory of the head and the blunderbuss tumbling free of their owner flashed in her mind.

“Civilian healers aren’t as practiced as I am,” the doctor grumbled, “and my old lady smacks me if I get ribald around women.”

“She smack you if you call her an old lady when she can hear it?” Jankarr asked.

“Mostly throws things at me.”

“Your relationship is something to envy.”

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